Ryan Reynolds Is Officially The New Highlander

Last month Ryan Reynolds was in talks to star in Lionsgate-Summit’s Highlander remake in the same Connor MacLeod role memorably played by Christopher Lambert. At the time, we also reported Reynolds was weighing other offers such as “trying to make people forget about Green Lantern” and “crying in a corner upon realizing he doesn’t get to see Scarlett Johansson naked anymore”. We’re not sure about those last two offers, but we have an update on the Highlander one.

The Tracking Board (via Blastr) reports Reynolds has officially signed to play Connor MacLeod in the remake being directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later). Fresnadillo is also negotiating to rewrite the script turned in by Matt Holloway and Art Marcum, the writing team behind Iron Man and Punisher: War Zone. Neal Moritz (I Am Legend) and Peter Davis of the original Highlander are producing.

The Tracking Board describes this Ryan Reynolds Highlander as a guy who “discovers he is one of a dwindling group of immortals who wander the earth and kill each other in combat for the final ‘Prize’ – immortality.” Wait, they’re immortals killing each other to gain immortality? I don’t think that’s the official synopsis there. Anyway, we already know what Reynolds needs to do to make himself unrecognizable to the other Highlanders.

I’m not a fan of the casting of Ryan Reynolds as Conner MacLeod, however I’m all for remaking Highlander. Having taken off my nostalgia goggles and rewatched the original recently I realized that it wasn’t very good. This is definitely a movie that could be improved with today’s technology.